A woman who mutilated her three-year-old daughter has become the
first person in the UK to be found guilty of female genital mutilation
(FGM). The 37-year-old mother from east London wept in the dock as she
was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey. Spells and curses
intended to deter police and social workers from investigating were
found at the Ugandan woman's home, the trial heard. Her 43-year-old
partner was acquitted by the jury. Prosecutors said the mother
"coached" her daughter "to lie to the police so she
wouldn't get caught".

The defendants, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denied
FGM and an alternative charge of failing to protect a girl from risk of
genital mutilation. Mrs Justice Whipple warned of a "lengthy"
jail term as she remanded the woman into custody to be sentenced on 8
March. FGM-intentionally altering or injuring the female external
genitalia for non-medical reasons-carries a sentence of up to 14 years
in jail.

During the trial, the woman claimed her daughter, then aged three,
"fell on metal and it's ripped her private parts" after
she had climbed to get a biscuit in August 2017. Medics alerted police
to the girl's injuries after they treated her at Whipps Cross
Hospital, in Leytonstone. She "lost a significant amount of blood
as a result of the injuries they had delivered and inflicted on
her", jurors were told.

'Sickening offence'

While the parents were on bail, police searched the mother's
home and said they found evidence of "witchcraft". Prosecutor
Caroline Carberry QC said two cow tongues were "bound in wire with
nails and a small blunt knife" embedded in them. Forty limes and
other fruit were found with pieces of paper with names written on them
stuffed inside, including those of police officers and a social worker
involved in the investigation.

"These people were to 'shut up' and 'freeze
their mouths'," Ms Carberry said. "There was a jar with a
picture of a social worker in pepper found hidden behind the toilet in
the bathroom," she added.

It is only the fourth FGM prosecution brought to court in the UK.
The previous cases led to acquittals. FGM campaigner Aneeta Prem, from
Freedom Charity, said convictions were hard to secure because cuttings
were "hidden in secrecy". "People are scared to come
forward, professionals are scared to come forward to report this,"
she told the BBC. "The fact that we have a conviction today is a
really historic moment."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said FGM was a "medieval
practice". "We will not tolerate FGM and not rest until
perpetrators of this horrific crime are brought to justice," he
added.

Lynette Woodrow, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the
"sickening" offence had been committed against a victim with
"no power to resist or fight back". "We can only imagine
how much pain this vulnerable young girl suffered and how terrified she
was," she said. "Her mother then coached her to lie to the
police so she wouldn't get caught, but this ultimately
failed." Ms Woodrow said FGM victims were often affected physically
and emotionally for "their entire life".

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